What are Politically Exposed Persons?
A Politically Exposed Person (PEP) is someone who holds, or has recently held, a prominent public role, such as a cabinet minister, member of parliament, high-ranking military officer, senior civil servant, or executive at a state-owned enterprise.
Although being labelled a PEP does not suggest wrongdoing, global AML rules treat these individuals and their close relatives as higher-risk customers. Most jurisdictions therefore require firms to identify PEPs and apply enhanced due-diligence checks to verify the legitimacy of their funds and wealth.
Why Screen PEPs?
Financial-crime regulators treat PEPs as higher-risk customers because by definition they hold or recently held prominent public positions with access to state resources. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) notes that such roles create more opportunity for bribery, embezzlement, and other corruption offences. FATF Recommendation 12 therefore requires firms to apply "enhanced ongoing monitoring and senior-management approval" when establishing or maintaining relationships with foreign PEPs.
Where is our PEP data sourced from?
Unlike sanctions lists, the universe of politically exposed persons is poorly defined. To bring clarity, ComplyMesh makes its coverage, and the method behind it, fully transparent. We first map which offices matter in each country, then track how well those roles are captured over time, across jurisdictions, and at every level of government.
Instead of hand-curating election news, we automate the process: ComplyMesh continuously imports trusted global datasets and augments them with national sources such as parliamentary rosters and state-governor directories. Each profile is further enriched with details that signal influence, say, when an office-holder also runs a business.
This pipeline not only keeps our PEP database current but also feeds community projects like Wikidata, helping turn political-person data into an open, shared commodity. Below is the country-by-country list of PEP sources ComplyMesh monitors.
| Region | Data Sources | Refresh Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Every Politician | daily | |
| UN Heads of State, Heads of Government & Ministers for Foreign Affairs | daily | |
| Wikidata Persons in Relevant Categories | hourly | |
| Wikidata Politically Exposed Persons | hourly | |
| Argentina | Argentina Members of Parliament | daily |
| Armenia | Armenia Public Officials and Associates | daily |
| Austria | Austria Public Officials | daily |
| Brazil | Brazil Politically Exposed Persons | daily |
| Bulgaria | Bulgaria Judiciary Asset Declarations | daily |
| Caymans | Cayman Islands Members of Parliament | daily |
| Cayman Islands Senior Judicial Officers | daily | |
| Chile | PEPs from Chile Interest and Asset Declarations | daily |
| Colombia | Colombian Joining the Dots PEPs | daily |
| Colombian PEP Declarations | daily | |
| Croatia | Croatia State Registry of Public Officials | daily |
| Cuba | Cuba Members of the Parliament | daily |
| Denmark | Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland PEPs | daily |
| Estonia | Estonia Members of the Riigikogu | daily |
| European Union | EU Prominent Public Functions | daily |
| European Commitee of the Regions Members | daily | |
| European Parliament Members | daily | |
| France | French Mayors | daily |
| French National Assembly | daily | |
| French Senators | daily | |
| Georgia | Georgia Public Official Asset Declarations | daily |
| Germany | German Legislators from AbgeordnetenWatch | daily |
| Global | China National People's Congress on Wikipedia | hourly |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong Legislative Council Members | daily |
| Hong Kong Principal Officials | daily | |
| Iceland | Iceland parliament | daily |
| Indonesia | Indonesia 2018 Regional Head Election Results | daily |
| Israel | Israel Knesset Members | daily |
| Latvia | Latvian Saeima | daily |
| Lithuania | Lithuania Members of the Seimas | daily |
| Lithuania PEPs from the register of private interests | daily | |
| Mexico | Mexico Chamber of Deputies | daily |
| Mexico Governors | daily | |
| Mexico Senate | daily | |
| Montenegro | Montenegro declarations of interests by public officials | daily |
| Netherlands | Netherlands House of Representatives | daily |
| Nigeria | Nigeria Joining the Dots PEPs and PEP Relatives | daily |
| Nigerian Politically Exposed Persons data by Chipper | daily | |
| North Macedonia | North Macedonia Elected and Appointed Officials | daily |
| Romania | Romania FIU Public Officials | daily |
| Singapore | Singapore Government Directory | daily |
| Slovakia | Slovakia Public Officials | daily |
| Slovenia | Slovenian Political Officials from Zvezoskop | daily |
| South Africa | South Africa Municipal Leadership | daily |
| South Africa National and Provincial Legislators | daily | |
| Thailand | Thailand Cabinet of Ministers | daily |
| Türkiye | Türkiye Grand National Assembly | daily |
| United States | United States PLUM Reporting | daily |
| US CIA World Factbook Heads of State and Government | daily | |
| US CIA World Leaders | daily | |
| US Legislators by Plural | daily | |
| US Members of the Congress | daily | |
| US Navy Leadership | daily | |
| US State Department Senior Officials | daily | |
| Uruguay | Uruguayan Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) | daily |
| Venezuela | Venezuela Members of the National Assembly | daily |
How can I help?
If you spot a PEP register that isn't yet covered in ComplyMesh, we'd love to hear about it. We accept:
- Official sources like government gazettes, central-bank directives, UN or other inter-governmental publications.
- Community-maintained open data, civil-society investigations, reputable journalistic projects.
Reach us with a link and a brief description. We'll review the feed, map it to our schema, and add it to the next refresh cycle. By pointing us to fresh or overlooked datasets, you help keep the global compliance community one step ahead of emerging risk.